Death In Paradise star Sara Martins helps beat the winter blues

Paradise found!

For up to eight million viewers, it’s their dose of forget-the-blues sunshine.

Smart scheduling by the BBC means Death In Paradise brings a pick-me-up of Caribbean warmth to the nation just when we need it most.

But star Sara Martins says filming the murder mystery in Guadeloupe can be a killer as the producers crank up the temperatures by making it even sunnier.

“It’s a Caribbean island so it’s always hot, about 35 degrees, when we film there,” Sara told The Sunday Post from her Paris home.

“You would think because it’s so bright you wouldn’t need extra light but that’s not the case. When we’re on location we have these massive lights.

“When we’re in the police station that means it’s 50 degrees with no air. It’s really difficult to keep your energy levels up, so the heat is a real problem.

“On the other hand, when you’re filming on the beach wearing shorts you think it’s a lot nicer than a grey winter day in Paris.”

Affable and charming company, Sara, who was born in Portugal, has been an ever-present in the lighthearted whodunit cop show.

As local detective Camille, she was initially paired with Ben Miller’s fish-out-of-water Brit cop Richard Poole.

But when he decided to leave, right at the start of the last series, the hunt was on for a new leading man.

The hope was that the show could survive the loss of its main man, like Taggart or Midsomer Murders, and former My Family star Kris Marshall proved be just as big a winner with viewers.

“It can’t have been easy coming in as the lead character,” confides the 37-year-old actress. I’m guessing he might have been under pressure but he never showed it.

“The rest of the cast and I knew it would be such a pressure and so difficult to come in and we wanted to make it just as easy as we could.

“We really welcomed him but he’s such an easy-going guy. And he speaks amazing French better than my English which I was really happy about.”

Having grown close to departing star Ben, Sara says it was vital to start afresh with her new co-star.

“We always knew that Death In Paradise is bigger than any of its characters.

“It’s the culture shock thing but after a couple of years of Ben’s character we had to find a way of making it different with Kris’ character Humphrey.

“Kris and I saw right away that we’d need to make our own chemistry and not try to do what I had with Ben.

“People didn’t forget Ben at all, and we didn’t want that, but we knew Kris as Humphrey would be irresistible and people would embrace him as well.”

Miller quit to spend more time at home with his wife Jessica and young kids Sonny and Harrison.

But replacement Marshall made it a real family affair on Guadeloupe by having wife Hannah and baby son Thomas join him on set as often as possible.

“Filming Death In Paradise means six months away which is really long and makes it hard for the families,” admits Sara.

“The good thing is that we’re filming through July and August which means a lot of the families can get out.

“You go back to the hotel and the wives and kids are there and it’s all very playful.

“It’s really important for people not to be separated too long from their loved ones or it becomes a nightmare.

“With Kris and his wife having had a new baby it was great that they could be with him the whole time.

“It was alright for me I’m not married and don’t have kids so I wasn’t suffering from missing someone too much.

“My parents and friends did come to see me but you feel guilty because you can’t spend too much time with them.

“The people in Guadeloupe have become so close to me after four years I feel like I have one life there and one in Paris.”

Sara promises that the new series will see the relationship between Camille and Humphrey develop further and there will be plenty more hard-to-fathom murders.

Death In Paradise is on Thursday at 9pm.